Death And Enlightenment 

Spoken By The Supreme Master Ching Hai, San Jose, Costa Rica 

November 22, 1989 (Originally In English) 

  
Tonight, I would like to offer
you some ideas about what
happens after one leaves this
world, because when we are
living in this world we already
know what to do. Most people do
not know what happens after we
depart from this world. I would
like to also make a comparison
between enlightenment and the
experience of so-called "death".
Actually when we die we do not		   die, we just change physical
appearance; or sometimes we just
forsake our physical appearance
for a short period of time; or
maybe even long period of time,
maybe many hundreds of years,
maybe many days, maybe many
thousands of years. Then we may
come back again to this world to
express our wisdom and
experiences through a physical
instrument again. 		  

Enlightenment Is Dying Daily 

  
In the Bible, one of the saints
stated that he died daily. In
other places, it is stated that
it's important to learn to die
so that you may begin to live.
Also in other places, it's
stated something like if you
forsake your life then you will
gain life. So when we read the
Bible and come across such
sentences, we may become very
puzzled. How is it possible that		   we die in order to live? How is
it possible that one can die
daily? How is it possible that
we must forsake life in order to
gain life? I think many of you
would have read a book called
"Life After Life," in which an
American doctor has collected
many stories about people who
have died and come back to life;
and nearly all of them expressed
the same experiences. That is,
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after they died, or they left
this physical body, they felt a
great sense of joy and freedom;
they were able to fly to some
far away country in some kind of
vehicle that looked like a
tunnel and then were welcomed by
some beings who were full of
light, love and assistance. When
we experience so-called
enlightenment, we have similar
experiences to some extent.		   That's why we heard that "I die
daily". The enlightenment means
we are connected with the higher
frequencies of the higher
worlds. Now in this universe, we
are not the only beings and also
our lives in this world are not
the only life that we've ever
lived. So if we get the
so-called enlightened
experience, that means we are at
that moment connected with the
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higher world and sometimes
relive our past glorious
experiences in the glorious
world. We have not always been
human beings. We have sometimes
been Buddhas, angels, saints,
Bodhisattvas. Bodhisattva means
saint in Christian terminology
-- just a non-translatable term
from Sanskrit. Bodhi means
enlightened, sattva means being.
Now we have lived many lives in		   different worlds. Sometimes we
have lived our lives in a very
glorious and intelligent world.
But when we came to this world,
most of people forgot their
past. So when we get
enlightenment, then sometimes we
will remember these past
memories. Then we can trace back
to where we belong, where we
came from, and we begin to
realize how great a being we
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are. Just the same with the
dying experience of some people.
When they go through the
so-called dying experience, most
people will see a kind of
reflection of all their life's
experiences, which flashes
before their eyes like a movie.
But mostly these so-called dead
persons can only have the
experiences of this life shown
to them in the other worlds. But		   the enlightened person can see
many, many lives back, thousands
or hundreds of many thousands of
years time and not only the
experiences in this world or in
this life -- many worlds. So
after such a knowledge, the
person realizes that he is not
an ordinary person, but a Buddha
or a Christ consciousness. That
is how Jesus proclaimed Himself
to be the son of heaven, and the
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Buddha proclaimed Himself to be
the enlightened one, the Buddha.
Buddha also means Christ. Christ
means the level of God
consciousness. So Buddha is a
Sanskrit term for Christ. Christ
is the Hebrew term for Buddha.
If we reach this kind of level
of understanding and wisdom, we
will also realize that we are
Buddhas, we are Christs. If we
do not get the highest		   enlightenment, then we can only
experience some kind of -- like
the death experience. We can go
to some kind of astral world or
little higher world after we
leave this world. But if we have
the higher level of
enlightenment or higher level of
attainment through daily
meditation and practice, then we
can reach higher worlds, which
represent the higher wisdom, and
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the higher glory. Jesus said, In
my Father's house there are many
mansions. Yeah, that's what He
meant. In the Bible it's also
recorded that someone was caught
up in the third heaven. In the
Bible it didn't say how many
heavens, but if there is a third
heaven, there must be a second
and a fourth. Similarly, in
Buddhism the Buddha has
described many different Buddha		   Lands, and many levels in one
Buddha Land. For example, there
is a land of Amitabha Buddha.
This land has divided itself
into nine levels, from the
lowest to the highest. Those
with meager virtues and practice
will stay in the lowest level
for many thousand years. He will
stay there until finally he gets
the greater awakening through
daily learning with the higher
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Buddhas or enlightened beings,
then he will also go to the
highest level. I think it is
similar to our school, like in
high school we have many
classes. Now when we have the
so-called enlightened		   experience, it is similar to
when we die -- we just leave the
physical body temporarily and we
come back again, just like those
after death experiences in the
book of the American doctor. 

Prepare For Death 
What makes dying so painful and
difficult is the inexperience of
death. If we have learned how to
die every day, then it's very
pleasant. Most people when they
die, they are so fearful that
they may lose this world.
Because they do not know that
there are better worlds, more
beautiful, more pleasant, more
happy awaiting them, they cling
to these well-known		   surroundings, also cling to the
loved ones. This makes us
struggle between the spiritual
body and the physical body and
that's how it results in pain.
If we know dying is just a kind
of rebirth, then we will not
fear. We will look forward to it
when the time comes. Now how to
prepare for that beautiful day?
Many people prepare for birth,
for weddings, but do not prepare
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for death. Actually death is the
biggest day. It should be the
most important day. In birth we
only have our physical bodies,
limited freedom and very slow
process of growth. But in death,
we gain a vaster freedom, a more
beautiful and flexible body, a
greater wisdom and more
beautiful world to live in --
for resting, for learning, for
improving, for progressing. So		   actually death is a very helpful
event to speed up our evolution,
to make us ascend quicker to
higher wisdom. But in order to
gain this status after death, we
should also take care that the
experiences we summon during
this Earthly life are of a more
pleasant type, more virtuous, so
that when we leave this physical
world, we will have no regrets,
no guilty feelings and no
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attachments, so we just ascend
very quickly and very happily.
When people leave the physical
body, there are some other
obstacles adding to their pain
-- they are the crying, and
grief of the loved ones who are
left behind. Most people cry
when their loved ones die, and
grieve for many months, many
years. Well, that for us is also
understandable because we've		   lost a loved one, a good friend,
a companion and we do not know
where that friend has gone to;
if his or her life would be
better after this world; if
anyone takes care of him.
Therefore, we grieve and feel
attached to that departed soul.
Consequently, this sentiment
will also hold up the departed
soul and inhibit him in some
way; also lessen the intensity
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of his joy and limit some of his
freedom. So the best way and the
correct way is not to grieve
when a loved one dies. I know
this is difficult, but it's the
higher kind of sacrifice and
love. We should feel happy that
the soul is released from the
physical limitation, from this
"prison house"; that the soul is
freer to fly anywhere, to learn
many things, and to do the many		   things that he loves to do. But
because we cannot glimpse into
the after world, we can't
rejoice at the death of a friend
or a relative. We can learn to
glimpse into the after world
through a very scientific
method. We can learn to know how
to die; we can learn to look
beyond this life into many other
planets, many other dimensions
and feel secure and assured of
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the happiness of the life after
this life; and we can see also
where our loved ones have gone.
Also we can choose our place to
go after we leave this physical
world. In this way we will never
fear death and we will not cry		   if someone leaves us. Or at
least if we cry we don't feel
such a burden, a heavy sense of
loss and sorrow. We might cry in
joy and gratitude. 

Our Lives Are More Positive After Enlightenment 
When we have such experiences of
beyond this world, we call this
enlightenment. There are many
levels of enlightenment. And at
the time of initiation with a
competent Master, we will have
some part of this enlightenment
experience. We can see beyond
this world into some glorious
worlds and have the experience
of leaving the body and coming
back again, exactly like when we		   die. Then we know how pleasant
dying can be, we will lose the
attachment for this world, and
we will lose any kind of heavy
sense of sorrow and misery. Some
people say that after they have
come back from the other world
to this world, they feel that
they do not like this world
anymore because they have known
a better world. But also
paradoxically, they love life.
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It isn't that they become
depressed or want to die. It's
not so, because they know life
is a continuous process, and
that they never die. That is
what makes people more positive,
more encouraged that they try to
live a more fulfilling life, a
more beneficial life, a more
conducive life to society and to
themselves. That's why we read
in many scriptures that all the		   saints always work ceaselessly
for humanity's benefit. They
dedicate their lives, energy and
wisdom to the service of
humankind, especially in the
spiritual field. Look at the
life of Jesus. We do not have to
say that He was a very great son
of heaven. It's enough to look
at His life to know that He was
a saint. Now, we know that He
walked every day from place to
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place, enduring much hardship
and poverty, in order to preach
the Truth, in order to remind
people of God. He did not need
to do that. You remember He
multiplied the bread and fed
about five thousand people, and
you remember He made water into
wine. Such a man would not need
to endure poverty. But He chose
to do so in order to serve
humankind; in order to awaken		   people to the Truth, the
principle of God, to help them
come out of misery, of
ignorance. Now, let's come to
the life of Buddha. No need to
say that Buddha was not a
Catholic, was not a Christian.
He was as much Christian as
Jesus. Jesus was as much
Buddhist as Buddha. Now what did
the Buddha do? Exactly the same
as Jesus. When we read the
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Buddhist sutras, we know Buddha
had limitless power and also in
worldly life, He had a very high
position. He could have been the
king of the nation, but He
forsook it all and endured
poverty and hardship, traveling
from place to place, humbly
begging for His food so that He
could preach the Truth. He did
not need the food even. But He
did so as an act of humility, as		   an act of grace so that those
who gave it to Him, may it be so
little, would receive some
blessings in return; would learn
the act of giving and selfless
service. The same with Jesus, He
didn't need to beg for food or
He didn't need anyone to offer
to Him. He just did so, so that
people gained some blessings and
wisdom. What makes these saints
so selfless is that they have
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gained knowledge into the ever
continuing life, that they have
gained happiness from
enlightenment. They also want to
share this joyous experience
with others, because they know
how miserable it is to be
ignorant and that many errors,
many mistakes, many crimes come
from ignorance. There are no
criminals in the world. The
greatest criminal is ignorance!		   If we know the secret of life,
if we know how to love life, if
we are enlightened, we would not
commit any crime. Therefore
anyone who makes mistakes,
commits any crime at all, they
are not to be blamed. Ignorance
is to be blamed. Therefore, the
saints instead of condemning
people, they teach people how to
get out of ignorance, how to
know themselves, how to put
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their great wisdom to use. I
mean how to make use of their
wisdom, because everyone has
wisdom hidden within ourselves.
That's what we call the Kingdom
of God, glory, knowing or love.
When we find this Kingdom of
God, whether by our own effort
or by learning from someone who
knows, we begin to feel a sense
of fulfillment! We begin to feel
the love and positive attitude		   towards life. That's why all the
saints in the past worked very
hard to enlighten people; even
though by doing so, they had to
endure many kinds of criticism,
misunderstandings and hardships,
sometimes even risking their
lives. In the case of Jesus and
Socrates, also Buddha, many
people wanted to kill them,
blacken their names. But despite
all of the difficulties, the
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saints always endure for the
sake of people. The saints are
the greatest peace-makers, the
greatest politicians, who always
bring peace to the world -- the
kings without any thrones
because they don't need anything
in this world. Jesus said that
His Kingdom was in heaven.
Buddha forsook the Earthly
kingdom. They have a greater
Kingdom within, we call the		   Kingdom of God. Seek you first
the Kingdom of God and all other
things shall be added onto you,
it is truly so. After we have
gained the Kingdom of God, we
have no desire for the kingdom
of this world. Remember when
Jesus was in the desert
meditating, and the King of Maya
came -- Devil, Satan came to Him
and said: If you bow to me, I
will give you the kingdom of the
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three worlds. Jesus said: Go
behind me. Means go away. He did
not need this, not even the
kingdom of the Three Worlds, not
one world. The kingdom of the
Three Worlds, included the third
heaven, but Jesus did not need
this. When Buddha sat under the
Bodhi tree for forty-nine days,
the so-called negative force
tried to seduce Him in many
ways, offered Him many things;		   but He did not want. So for
those enlightened souls, even
though people praised them as
kings, it's not in the sense of
the worldly kings. But worldly
people cannot understand this
due to their ignorance and
jealousy, which is common within
the human brain, within the
human behavior. When Jesus was
alive, many politicians at that
time were jealous of Him; and
======================================== 
because of that, they killed
Him. It was because they
misunderstood Him. If they knew,
truly He didn't care about		   anything in this world, they
wouldn't fear His influence. 

Establish A Heavenly "Telephone" Connection 
Enlightenment is always
necessary, even if we want to be
in this world, even if we do not
want heaven. In China we say,
"First be enlightened." Means
cultivate yourself, then we can
take care of the household; then
further, we can take care of the
nation; and further, we can
bring peace into the world. So
if we practice self-cultivation,
we contribute to peace in the		   world without having to say
anything, without having to be
in any peace conference. Peace
will rain upon the world
automatically, naturally. How to
practice self-cultivation in
everyday life? It's very simple.
We should remember the
commandments, try our best to
keep them. If we fail, we try
again. Yes, always turn to God,
to the Buddhas for help and
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guidance. A Buddha means an
enlightened Master of the past,
present and future. If we truly
ask them for help, they will
give us help. Many people go to
the church, go to the temple to
pray. But sometimes it is
difficult to get in touch with
these Buddhas or the God-power.
Therefore we feel that our
prayers are not fulfilled,
because our connection is		   severed. Just like our telephone
is disconnected; so if we talk
on the telephone, it is a
useless attempt. We can only
make noise and the neighbor
would hear us, but not our
needed person in the distance.
Even though our friends are a
very long distance away, through
the connection of the telephone
wires, we can talk to them like
I am talking to you now.
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Similarly, even though God is
supposed to be very far away in
heaven, or the enlightened
Masters are supposed to be in
the Buddha Land somewhere very
high, very far away, through a
connection, although invisible
to the eyes, we can contact them
and get help from them. That
contact is offered through the
so-called initiation or what we
call true baptism, like John the		   Baptist did, like Jesus did.
That is why the necessity for a
physical Master. Otherwise,
Jesus didn't need to come here,
Buddha didn't need to come here,
many other saints didn't need to
come here. They know our calls,
but we cannot receive their
answers. So they have to come
here and make the direct link
between heaven and Earth. Then,
we are no longer separated from
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the universe. Of course,
whenever the saints come to this
world, not many people will come
to them, not all of the world
anyhow, but some will come. Just
like we have some public
telephones, better than none at
all. So, through these public
telephones we can make contact
with other people, even though
we don't have a private phone
ourselves. Similarly, those who		   follow the saints, the higher
disciples will act as a public
link between heaven and Earth.
Maybe not too many, but it's
still useful. Of course the more
the better. Similarly, if we
ourselves have a telephone,
then, we can directly and every
time connect with heaven.
Masters, like Jesus and Buddha,
offer this kind of service -- to
establish the heavenly
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"telephone". Then every time we
pray, our prayers will be
answered. We will know it
intuitively or very clearly,
visibly; it depends on our level
of practice and understanding.
Some people are higher in
consciousness, some people are
lower. It depends on their
background and their strength of
practice in this life. Some
kinds of diseases are incurable,		   even though they are very common
diseases. I am not talking about
new diseases which have no
medicine at the moment. It is
because these diseases are
deeply rooted in the past life,
and the doctors and the
scientists cannot go beyond the
present conditions into the very
far past existence in order to
find out the root cause. If
these people however get
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enlightenment themselves, they
will know how to cure
themselves. They cure by their
own wisdom, by their
understanding of why this has
happened. Oh, they can know this
intuitively or it can be visibly
clear. It depends also on their
practice. If we are highly
elevated souls, we will see
things more clearly and visibly.
If we are some kind of so-called		   beginner then of course, we do
not see things very clearly but
only intuitively. But even just
knowing a little of our real
life would help us immensely.
Therefore, the saints always
encourage people; emphasize that
people should be enlightened,
should get in touch with the
Kingdom of God, with the
God-power. We can do so during
this lifetime. We need not wait
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until we die and go through the
painful experience of so-called
death. If we wait for the dying
process to take over in order to
learn, in order to get contact
with heaven, then our learning
would be very limited, our level
of understanding would not be so
high. If we learn to die during
this life, we have more chance
to advance into a higher wisdom.
And we can do so just like we		   learn any kind of hobby, new
science or new subject. We learn
side by side with other duties.
We can keep our normal lives and
positions, but we save some time
every day to learn this
beyond-life science. To learn
this science, we have no need
for academic titles, any
educational background or any
financial status. It is all free
of charge, because the wisdom
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that we gain is from ourselves.
Therefore any real Master never
charges the student any money,
because it's our own treasure
that we discover again. If I
tell you that in your house
there is a hidden treasure.		   Well! Do I have any credit for
it? I can't claim any credit for
it because the treasure is
yours. I only know where it is
and just tell you. 

God's Power Works Through A Living Master 
The Kingdom of God is within us.
Buddha Nature is within us. The
Bible, the scriptures tells us
so. And it's truly so: Know you
not that you are the temple of
God and the Holy Spirit dwells
within you. If the Holy Sprit
dwells within us, we should find
him, and ask him what he is
doing there all the time. Why he
leaves us in darkness. Why he
doesn't hear our calls. Why he		   doesn't take care of our lives
and make them better. He is
dying to help us, but we didn't
ask or we asked the wrong way.
In the Bible it says: Knock and
it shall be opened. Ask and it
will be given unto you. But you
say you have been asking every
day in the church and at home.
Why haven't you receive? You
forgot what Jesus said: Ask, but
in my name. Then God will give
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to you! Do we have to ask God in
His name? And: No one will come
to the Father except through me.
Does it mean that Jesus is
bigger than God? Yes? No. It's
only His job. For example if we
want to see the president, we
can't just drive through and go
in. We have to ask his
secretary, make an appointment
with his deputy or whoever is in
charge of the appointments for		   guests. Is that not so? Doesn't
mean the secretary, the deputy
or the person in charge is
greater than the president. It's
just his job. So now, you also
would tell me, "But I ask Jesus
every day. We are a Catholic
country, Christian country. You
don't tell me what to do. You're
Buddhist." No, I am not Buddhist
I am "Godist". Buddhists,
Christians are all "Godists". We
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just call God different names in
different countries. Just like
here you call your wife
"querida". In America they call
her "my wife". In Chinese they
call her "tai tai". In Au Lac
they call her "vo toi". So many
different names for one title.
So why is it if we ask God in
the name of Jesus every day in a
church and we also don't receive
any grace or light? It is		   because Jesus has left the
physical world. His job is done
here. So we have to find someone
else who is a Comforter, as
Jesus has promised to send after
He left the world. Those
so-called Comforters are those
who do the job of Jesus,
continue the work that He had
not finished, because Jesus said
that only as long as He lived in
the world, He would be the light
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of the world. He did not say He
would be forever the light of
the world; only as long as He
lived in this world. Then He
promised to send the Comforters
afterwards. Someone who is able
to comfort and replace our
beloved ones, must be at least
similar in capabilities and
standard. So He means after He
is gone, there will be other
light givers coming to this		   world. Just like before Him,
there were other light givers.
Therefore someone asked Jesus if
He was the reincarnation of such
and such great past prophets, He
did not object. Understand? It's
the same spirit, power that goes
into different bodies to serve
humankind. Therefore, Jesus
said: Not I, but it is the
Father that works through me.
And St. Paul said: I live, but
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not I, Christ lives in me. It
means the same spirit works
through different physical
instruments, because all the
greatest enlightened saints are
one with the Father, one with
God or one with the Buddha
Nature. Therefore all the
enlightened Masters reaching a
certain stage are titled Buddha,
because they share equally the
power they have, the same		   wisdom, same capabilities. If
any of you would like to have
this enlightened experience, I
would be happy to serve you;
because I continue the tradition
from Jesus and Buddha to serve
mankind in this way. Just like
you serve your country by being
a doctor, an engineer or a
lawyer, I serve your country, I
serve the world, the whole world
in my way. We just do different
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jobs. There is no need to praise
me or to be surprised at my job
or my statements. I have just
studied different subjects and		   graduated in a different school.
So I do a different job than you
do. Just a job! 
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